Souce:Xinhua
Publish By Thomas Whittle
PHNOM PENH, Jan. 11 — Cambodia will release and grant
prison-term reductions to about 500 prisoners to mark the cremation of
its late King Father Norodom Sihanouk on Feb. 4, Justice Minister Ang
Vong Vathana said Friday.
“In total, some 500 prisoners will be either granted royal pardons or
have their jail terms reduced,” he told reporters. ” King Norodom
Sihamoni will sign to free or cut jail terms for those prisoners on Feb.
4 during the cremation of his father, King Norodom Sihanouk.”
Under Cambodian law, a prisoner is qualified for a royal amnesty or a
jail-term reduction only if he or she has served at least two-thirds of
the jail term and behaved well while serving in jail, he said.
“But, the release and sentence reductions on Feb.4 are special, it is
to mark the cremation of the King Father, so Prime Minister Hun Sen
also advised to free or reduce jail terms for old prisoners,
ill-prisoners and prisoners with little babies,” he said, adding that
generally, Cambodia grants royal pardons or sentence reductions three
times a year: Khmer New Year, Visak Bochea (Buddha) Day and Water
Festival.
Sihanouk died of illness at the age of 90 in Beijing on Oct. 15, last
year. Currently, his body is lying in state at Cambodian capital’s
Royal Palace for the public to pay their last respects.
His body will be cremated on Feb. 4 at a cremation site, built at the Meru field next to the Royal Palace.
Government spokesman and Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said
Thursday that French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and Jia Qinglin,
President of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, will
come to Cambodia to attend the cremation ceremony of the late King.
Besides, senior officials from India and the ten-member Association
of Southeast Asian Nations will also attend the ceremony, he said.
Born on Oct. 31, 1922, Sihanouk ruled Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and
again from 1993 until his voluntary abdication on Oct. 7, 2004 in favor
of his son, the current King Norodom Sihamoni.
He suffered from various forms of cancer, diabetes and hypertension
and had been treated by Chinese doctors in Beijing for years before his
death.
1 comment:
Cpp only release its cronies,thugs,murderers,corruptors,crooks,land grabbers etc...Rainsy &mam Sonondo were working for khmers Cpp won't release because they were khmers' nationalists tried to protect khmers' land from yuon invaders were criminals in their blinded eyes,jungles' law indeed.
Mee'na
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